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Current & ConnectedSun, 02 Aug 2015 11:00:52 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.2.3Mayday, Mayday!http://theurbanwire.com/2011/07/mayday-mayday/
http://theurbanwire.com/2011/07/mayday-mayday/#commentsTue, 19 Jul 2011 09:14:55 +0000http://theurbanwire.com/?p=21150With a aloof and cool demeanor, the surprisingly amiable Derek Sanders from Mayday Parade speaks with Urbanwire about the band’s new album, as well as their journey as a band.

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After 5 and a half years since their debut, American rock band Mayday Parade made up of Derek Sanders, Jeremy Lenzo, Alex Garcia, Brooks Betts and Jake Bundrick have been through many crucial changes after signing on with major record label Atlantic.

D: “We went up on the Flyer, and it was awesome. It was nice to see the view of everything from the top. At sunset, we went to the rooftop of Marina Bay Sands Hotel, which was unbelievable. I don’t eat meat so there’s a lot of food that I can’t try, but I got some tofu and noodles yesterday, we had lunch at Chinatown and there were all kinds of cool stuff.”

Q: What do you think of the fanbase in Asia?

D: “It’s been unreal! I’m excited to play tonight and it’s a sold-out show here so it’s going to be so cool. We just did Japan for 2 weeks and that was wonderful. They really appreciate the music and they are very respectful, they are very energetic, fun and super kind. It’s cool to see that because we tour the States over and over again in the 5 and a half years that we’ve been a band. Not to say anything bad about them (obviously we love our fans in the States), but maybe they don’t appreciate it as much because they are able to see these bands all the time. But when you go somewhere else that you’ve never been to, or hardly get to go there, they really appreciate you coming over.”

Mayday Parade at the Singapore Flyer

Q: Are there any embarrassing or extreme moments with your fans? (Like groping, stalking etc.?)

D: “That kind of stuff has happened before but nothing too extreme, hopefully it’s nothing too crazy or bums us out. You have to appreciate all the diehard fans, so you can’t let it bother you.”

Q: With regards to Anywhere But Here, how different was it to work on an album without lyricist Jason (Lancaster)?

D: “Obviously, Jason was a big part of the band, he helped out with the songwriting and was the other vocalist, but I guess the biggest thing that was different wasn’t necessarily just that he wasn’t there, but that we signed to Atlantic before we did that CD, so it was our first time doing a CD with a major label and we didn’t really know what to expect or how it worked. We ended up doing a lot of co-writing for the album and going on to do a CD with David Bendeth, who is a big time producer, and he had a much heavier hand on everything and kind of wanted to change things to go his way. I think in the end we definitely loved that CD but the process wasn’t exactly what we wanted and it wasn’t what I think works best for this band, it was a big learning process. With the newest CD we recorded a few months back, which will come out this October, we went back to the original style of what Mayday Parade started out as, which was to make music that we loved and cared about. It’s nice to be back like that and it sucks that we have that transitional period to figure that out, but that’s definitely who we are.”

Q: Is that the reason why you once said in an interview that you didn’t care, or love, the songs in Anywhere But Here as much?

D: “Yeah, we didn’t even get to pick the songs that made it onto the album, and there were a lot of songs that didn’t make it into the album that we wrote that we love and wanted to be on the album, but Atlantic didn’t want us to or wouldn’t let us. Whenever you do that to a band… I think the most important thing for a band is to care about the music they are making, people can tell if you don’t. We learnt a lot from doing that record and now it’s back to the original roots and that’s the bottom-line. Hopefully, people will like it as well, but the most important thing is that we make a CD that we love, and we did with the last album.”

Q: Are there any impressionable songs in this album for the band members?

D: “It’s different depending on who you ask. For me, it’s probably an acoustic track called ‘I Swear, This Time I Mean It’, that’s probably the most personal or meaningful song for me in this album.”

Q: In A Lesson in Romantics, the band had song titles that were longer than the norm and a tad ironic such as ‘I’d Hate To Be You When People Find Out What This Song Is About’ and “If You Wanted A Song Written About You, All You Had To Do Was Ask”, however in Anywhere but here, you guys had shorter titles that were more “common”, why is that so?

D: “I don’t know, but there are a couple in Anywhere But Here, ‘If You Can’t Live Without Me Why Aren’t You Dead Yet’, and we still have a couple of those. In the newest album there’s a handful that are longer like that. We always talk about it when it comes to titling songs, we just figure out what we want to call them and just go for it.”

Q: You guys are named the ‘Hardest Working Band’ in 2010 by Songkick, having written around 50 songs in a year, have you guys not rested since then?

D: “We get breaks every now and then, especially around December every year and it’s nice, but we like to stay on the road as much as we can and just stay an active part. When we started this band it was a goal to drop everything else in our lives and just dedicate a hundred percent to the band, and we knew that it wasn’t going to happen any other way, we have to go out there and make it happen. We’ve always tried to stay busy and I’m pretty sure it will continue to be the case for a while.”

D: “Only on Warped Tour, we both front the same stage in 2010, we got to hang with them a little bit but not as much as if we did a club tour together. It’d be cool to watch them play tonight and hang out.”

Q: Are there going to be any surprises for the crowd tonight?

D: “We’re doing a song that we don’t normally do, off our acoustic EP Valdosta, we’re playing a song called ‘Terrible Things’. Other than that we’re just going to have fun and play music. We’re not doing any new songs yet because we feel that it’s too early and the CD doesn’t come out until October. As soon as you play some new songs, kids film it, put it up on Youtube (not that it’s bad), but we just want to wait a little longer before we start playing the new stuff; But we’re itching and ready to do them because we’ve been practicing new songs and soundchecks just to do them live and I can’t wait. As far as our setlist goes, we’ve been picking the songs that we think everyone would want to hear and not leave out any, and it’s hard because people often ask for certain songs and I feel bad if we are not playing them, but we can’t play them all, so we’ll do our best.”

And that was exactly what the alternative rockers Jimmy Eat World got, and a very fervent one at that.

The stomping and adrenaline-pumping 2,500 turnout – a melting pot of teenage indie rock & roll lovers and dressed-down after-work folks – were the source of high-pitched shrieks heard throughout the Hard Rock Café Hotel located at Resorts World Sentosa for a solid 90 minutes.

“No opening act”, declared the band on Twitter the night itself. “We start at 8pm sharp” and true to their word, many fans who streamed in late missed the chance of getting the first action.

From the get-go, the band from Arizona performed one of their hits ‘Bleed American’ and got the entire house burning up (literally as it was an outdoor venue and perspiring groupies were whamming into one another in a valiant effort to get closer to the stage).

Bass guitarist Rick sweating it out on the frontline

Despite the spacious dance floor at The Coliseum, half the crowd huddled in front of the stage trying to get a clearer glimpse of their dearest ensemble. Familiar tunes such as their 4th single ‘A Praise Chorus’ was followed after, leading to a giant mosh party.

However, many appeared rather enlivened by the band’s older tunes in comparison to songs from their new album, as the crowd fell silent for a few moments during the band’s performance on ‘Coffee and Cigarettes’ and ‘My Best Theory’.

But props to the band for incorporating their entire discography into a mere 90 minutes show, gratifying audiences of all generations that have grew to love them.

By the time the quartet got around to playing another of their classic hits, ‘Pain’, you could see the crowd getting weary, sweaty and exuberated at the same time.
Regardless of the near burnout, the devoted fans still had their hands up in the air, some of them bearing posters that screamed out proposals such as “Tom, Marry me!” to “Jimmy, You Eat My World”

Of course, the band was perceptive enough to move on to slower ballads such as ‘23’, one of the songs other than ‘Pain’ that gave Futures, their fifth studio album, much more life and passion. Jim declared it a song request by all their supporters in Singapore and the entire house went ecstatic, singing along to the lyrics like they were on the back of their hands and going teary-eyed by the emotional pull of the words.

“You’ll sit alone forever, if you wait for the right time.
What are you hoping for?” – 23

The band mellows out during the slow tunes of '23'

As Jim nonchalantly strummed the guitar before taking a short break to greet the fans, the crowd hushed and took a timeout themselves, or rather a water break. He proceeded to rant about the weather in Singapore playfully, before repeating what was probably running through everyone’s minds, “Shut up and play? Okay, we’ll shut up and play!”

The rest of the night flew by as the band played out the gems of their entire discography, ‘Work’, ‘Hear You Me’ as well as ‘Get It Faster’, which proved to be well-received by the audience as they dove into a state of fanaticism, gyrating to the faster tunes and swaying to the down-tempo melodies.

Alas, the band called it a night with ‘Goodbye Sky Harbour’, hinting an agreement to an encore as they stopped the 15-minutes ballad midway. And then chants of “we want more” got roaring and within a minute, the four were back on stage.

The 2,500 enthusiasts cried as Jim churned out the words to their latest hit, “You’re always in my head, You’re just what I wanted”, with some fans crooning to their special ones bright-eyed with smiles on their faces.

Finally, the band whipped out popular nostalgic hits such as ‘The Middle’ that led to Bleed American’s success as a platinum album and ‘Sweetness’, that was well pure sweetness as you could feel the grime, sweat (partly ours) and amount of broken Fenders that defined the band’s rise to success.

The night ended on a bittersweet note. The only thing that would probably make the night more perfect would be lead vocalist Jim Adkins crowd surfing, which would be wishful thinking on my part.

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It wasn’t just the hot weather causing the roomful of reporters all hot and bothered at Resorts World Sentosa last Friday.

Jimmy Eat World, which is made up of four charming men from Arizona, sizzled up the ballroom when the American alternative rock band appeared.

Vocalist of Jimmy Eat World, Jim Adkins

Lead singer, Jim Adkins, greeted reporters while gulping down a bottle of cold water. Evidently, temperatures are rising in the room.

In support of their sixth full-length album, Invented, the band held their first-ever concert in Singapore at The Coliseum at Hard Rock Café Hotel . The band, consisting of vocalist/guitarist Jim Adkins, drummer Zach Lind, guitarist as well as back-up vocalist Tom Linton and bassist Rick Burch, were stoked to meet their fans and remained active on Twitter, updating followers on their adventures in Singapore. “I think it’s really cool that Singapore is sort of like the US, with a big melting pot of cultures. There are all these kinds of different Asian influences here. It’s really neat!” Zach declared.

The quartet had heard much about our local delicacies and went food hunting at the Maxwell Food Centre located near Chinatown, referring to our chicken rice dish separately as “chicken and rice”’ (and of course announced it was delicious), before heading back to the Hard Rock Café Hotel to prepare for their show later that night.

The UrbanWire chats with Zach and Rick.

The band has been together for about 17 years. How’s the development so far?

Z: We get along really well. We see eye-to-eye on a lot of things so if we disagree, it’s always really small stuff.

R: We all want the same things, especially in songwriting. We all want the songs to be the best that they can be, so if we have a disagreement it’s only because we are feeling passionate about making our songs.

Is it hard not to be cynical in the music industry since you all have been around for so long? How do you feel about most people downloading songs for free rather than buying the original record?

Z: I think that our policy is to only worry about what we can control, and whether or not people buy our records or download for free, we really can’t control that. I don’t think we are really cynical about that, we probably just want to keep making good music and we feel like we have built up a foundation to a standard where we can do that. It’s not necessary to depend on a big label to give us support because we can support ourselves, and very cheaply (laughs).

Were there any bands you looked up to musically that helped shaped your sound in the early years?

R: I think our music is influenced by other bands as to whether to incorporate those styles, or to stay away from them. We try to focus on one band and do things the way they do, but kind of pick up little ‘jewels’ from here and there, and collect them all.

Were you guys ever under any kind of pressure to make ‘Chase this light’ as successful as ‘Bleed American’?

Z: No. Whatever pressure we have is pressure that comes from ourselves, to make the record that we want to make, to make a record that we’d be proud of. Every record’s different, so we try not to worry about outside influences when we’re making our records.

R: It’s kind of out of our control. We can’t control how people perceive our music. Hopefully, they felt it as much as we do, but I can’t make you like the music. I really want everyone to like it though, you can drive yourself crazy trying to do that, it’s kind of impossible, so we first make ourselves happy and proud, and we go on from there.

Jimmy Eat World is pretty known for writing long songs, such as ‘Goodbye Sky Harbour’, so why do you guys choose to write long songs rather than write a few more songs in the same amount of time?

Z: It kind of depends. Some songs we feel work better longer. We have the instinct towards makingour records like for Invented, we have a few longer songs on it. For us, it’s all about making the song the best that it can be, and later on, putting the best songs on the record. We just think ‘That song needs to be one the record’ so that’s how we make our decisions. Some people might not like it, but for us it’s about what interests us, what excites us. Doing a longer song and not being restrained by a 3-minuter is fun!

You guys will be touring for the next one year or so so what do you guys do to keep up the energy?

Z: That’s a good question. I think we’d like to take a little bit of time off from touring so we go on tour for like 3 weeks, and come back and we take a break, so we try to keep our energy up that way. But for us it’s always exciting to travel, just to experience being in different places every night. It’s not hard to be energetic about playing because every night it’s different, it’s exciting. We do the best we can for our fans.

R: Yeah, we’re really excited about tonight as it’s our first time here, and we’re anticipating. We don’t know what to expect from the audience, how their reactions will be. So we’re kind of nervous and excited, it’s going to be a really good night.

So we heard that you guys brought Courtney Marie Andrews on tour with you guys, how was it having a girl along with you guys?

Z: It’s great! She does a really good job, and she’s a really talented artiste on her own so she has added something really cool to our shows.

What do you guys think about Paramore since they listed Jimmy Eat World as one of their music influences?

Z: We did a tour with them a few years ago, so they are really good people, and they are really talented and they perform really good live, I’m sure they’ll all go on to do great things.

Which song in your discography grasps you the most whenever you feel uninspired?

Z: I’m not sure, it changes, at least for me, I think the one thing for us is that it’s really easy to forget the songs that we’ve put out. We’ve made a lot of songs so it’s really easy to forget. I don’t know how to point out one song.

R: That’s a really tough one. I think maybe the song “Mixtape” in Invented, because we knew that song had potential to be a great song and we definitely wanted it to be on the album, but we never really felt like it was complete for the whole recording process, it just didn’t feel right yet, and at the last moments of finishing it, it all came together and now it’s one of my favourite songs. It’s totally different than anything else on the album.

Jimmy Eat World may not be the hottest or most glam band around, but one thing’s for sure – every time they roll around with a new album, it’s a must listen. Jimmy Eat World albums often have a 2 or 3-year gap between each release, and Invented is no different.

With the band’s history stretching back all the way to 1993, teenagers and young adults who have grown up listening to Jimmy Eat World will find their latest album nostalgic.

In the 21st century of rapidly changing music styles and bands, it’s indeed a marvel that Jimmy Eat World has endured 17 years in the business to remain as solid and close as they are.

It hasn’t been all a bed of roses though, as they very nearly slipped into the depths of obscurity when they decided to record Bleed American, without the help of a record label.

Taking day jobs to help pay for their jamming and recording sessions, the band suddenly found themselves courted by record labels fighting to sign them on. DreamWorks Records won out in the end and Bleed American, the album that propelled them to mainstream consciousness, was released and the rest is history.

Invented starts off with “Heart Is Hard to Find”, an upbeat bittersweet song, with backing vocals from fellow Arizona indie folk singer and songwriter Courtney Marie Andrews (she also backs “Heart Is Hard to Find”, “Movielike”, “Coffee and Cigarettes”, “Cut”, and “Invented”). Lead vocalist Jim Adkins’ mellow voice accompanied by tinkling bells and optimistic violins leaks out the honest heartbreaking emotion in the track.

Most of the 12 songs are the default pop rock love ballads typical of all of Jimmy Eat World’s previous albums, but the standout hits are definitely “Movielike” and “Littlething”.

Movielike starts off with a mild acoustic guitar and thudding drums, before adding an electric guitar to the mix, for a more rock-ish feel. Andrews’ refreshingly sweet child-like backing vocals soften the edge of the number, a well-needed injection that cleanses the aural palate and makes this a classic hit.

An addictively melodic keyboard characterizes “Littlething”, sounding out clearly among the gritty electric guitar strums. Violins and an mourning 80s-sounding electric guitar solo complete the set, gradually building up with an intensity and urgency with frantic violins and pounding drums, before deflating with a depressing yet hopeful ending.

Having been around for 17 years, yet managing to remain current and tweaking and reinventing their sound every few years, it’s not a stretch to believe Jimmy Eat World will still be here for years to come.

Despite the presence of a few unmemorable and bland tracks like title track “Invented” and “Evidence”, Invented is still a very good album that fans will love, but isn’t going to convert anyone who’s not already listening to them..

With Christmas just around the corner, it’s only natural for one to get into the spirit of the occasion. Yes, you can sit on the edge of your seat in anticipation of this white season, or even pray harder for Santa to come quickly; but if you don’t start jumping around and grooving to the beats of Christmas, come Dec 25, you might find that the party has already begun without you.

Alright, if you’re already starting to fret, UrbanWire will let you in on a secret. Want to know how Santa keeps the hype over Christmas going for more than just a few centuries? Why, it’s the music of course! (Who knows; he might have already “pimped up” his sled with a new thumping sound system!) Up till now, if you haven’t created music playlists purely for Christmas, you’re in for a treat – UrbanWire presents to you our top Christmas covers of all time.

Written by Ralf Blane and Hugh Martin, this song was popularised in the 1940s when it was used in the movie, “Meet Me in St. Louis”. Its lyrics describe a perfect Christmas, where troubles are in distant memory, and friends still remain close to the heart. Although many covers are available today, Frank Sanatra’s version clearly stands out as his voice conveys a sincerity which will easily soothes any heavy heart. (Compare that to Kermit the Frog’s version, with its childish voices and remix, and you’ll understand what I mean.)

In parts of northern hemisphere, where the 4 seasons make up a year, Christmas time is usually accompanied with a thick blanket of snow covering virtually everything. Hence, a picture-perfect dream is what’s portrayed in this song. With our hot and humid climate here in Singapore, listening to White Christmas would certainly make jogging under the mid-day sun enjoyable.

O Holy Night, a Christmas classic, is probably one of the more popular Christmas songs we know. Composed in the 1800’s by Adolphe Adam, our guess is that modern instrumental accompaniments weren’t present at that time. While many singers have covered the song in their respective genres – from metal band Dream Theater to classical sensation Sarah Brightman – *NSync has decided to go all natural with just their voices, creating the most authentic remake of this hymn. Brace yourself for a quintet of “Angel voices”.

It’s really unfortunate that Singaporeans do not enjoy the privilege of snow. (We can visualise your head nodding in agreement at this point) But if you really listen carefully to the lyrics, you’ll realise that the snowfall is, in fact, dreaded in this song. Try as we might, we Singaporeans will never be able to understand why anyone would dread snow. That’s exactly why Kenny G’s instrumental version, makes the top 10. If you don’t really remember the exactly lyrics to this song, just take note of every stanzas’ ending – “let it snow, let it snow, let it snow”!

The only thing many would pay attention to in this song is the enchanting voice of little Billy Gilman. Warm and Fuzzy – that’s the exact feeling you’d get after listening to it. His voice is so supple, it easily leaves most hearts melted. Mentioned in the lyrics are elves, snowflakes, reindeers and toys – any child’s dream come true.

Although this song’s become an irritating tune to quite a number of people, , Jackson 5’s cover definitely kills any boredom that is associated with this song and waiting for Christmas. The excitement in Michael Jackson’s voice reminds us of the inner-kid in us who just wants Christmas to come quickly. If you want a really good “waiting song” (a song you’d listen to while waiting) for Christmas, this is it. It’s guaranteed to give you joy while you wait. This cover brings that sense of thrill and anticipation so strogly, it might even make you want to wait longer just so you can play this song once more, and allow that excitement to last a little longer.

Are you looking for the best song to play on the actual day of Christmas? How about vocals? Are you ready for those massive lungs to blow you away? If you answered yes to all the above, you’ll be pleasantly surprised to find that Christina Aguilera’s version of The Christmas Song is your best option; the title alone, speaks for itself. Shortly after it was written by Mel Tormé and Bob Wells in the 1940s, the song was popularised by Nat King Cole. More than 50 years later Christina Aguilera recorded her own version in 1999. If all else fails to perk you up for Christmas, make sure that this is the first song you listen to on the morning of Dec 25. UrbanWire promises you, it will work like magic.

If you haven’t bought a present for that special someone of yours, here is your “Plan B”. This original song written and produced by Mariah Carey will help you get away with the “cardinal sin”. All you have to do is look into the eyes of your loved-one and sing along, “all I want for Christmas is you”. An awesome track for a great occasion, this is. Unfortunately for those who are single, this is more of a couple’s song. But don’t pay any attention to that; Mariah Carey’s stunning vocals are sure to create a warm atmosphere of love, under any circumstance.

No Christmas party would be complete without everyone grooving to the tunes of Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree. A more modern version of this old-time classic, MercyMe’s remake captures their target audience with their Rock-ish tilt. Even creating a music video for this track, it seems like the band is pretty serious about the Christmas season. So take a break from your pulsating dance songs and instead, put on this new old-fashioned classic. Just be careful though; don’t topple the Christmas tree while you’re rockin’ around it.

10) Christmas is all Around – Billy Mack, Love Actually Soundtrack

All in the name of fun, here’s a song that will provide a cheerful melody to perfect any Christmas mood. A cheesy parody to the original “Love is all Around”, this song was created for scenes in the 2003 motion picture, Love Actually. With most of the words, from the original, replaced with Christmas associations, the spoof still maintains its old groove. So why not have some fun on Christmas Eve, and rent out the Love Actually DVD? If you already know the lyrics of the original by heart, you’ll be surprised when you start singing along to the parody; it’s amazing how it sounds like a real Christmas song. Before you know it, you might even be singing it during your carolling sessions.

Celebrities’ pick

As Christmas is celebrated all over the world, UrbanWire now shines the spotlight on Singapore – Just what kind of Christmas songs do Singaporeans enjoy during this festive season? Well, here’s what some prominent figures in the local music industry have to say.

UrbanWire spoke to Esmond Wee, lead singer of local band, Vertical Rush, and this is one of his top choices. Other than Jimmy Eat World’s catchy melody, which easily sticks in one’s mind, what Esmond likes about the song is the irony behind it. “We normally associate Christmas with love and happiness,” he suggests. “But what about those that are heartbroken? I guess this song gives them something to relate to.”

Rosalyn Lee, presenter for 987FM, also has this song in her top picks. However, she takes a rather different stand. For Rosalyn, this is not a serious song; instead, she likes to have a good laugh whenever it’s played. She adds, “Being the ubiquitous Christmas track, this song is heard without fail every time Christmas is here.”

The man responsible for the percussions of local band, Cardinal Avenue, John Liu’s choice during Christmas is “surely this song”. This drummer boy explains that since he plays the drums, perhaps it’s easier for him to relate to this song, with its striking beats. “It has a real catchy sing-along tune,” he elaborates.

As for this year’s Christmas, John informs, “local band, The Fire Fight, will perform their own rendition of this song, fused with their unique sound, for the 8 pm Christmas Show at the Esplanade on Christmas Eve”. Keep a lookout; perhaps we might even spot John tapping his feet, singing along, “pa rum pum pum pum”!

Here are just a few songs to get you started through this pre-Christmas period. But don’t just stop there. From now till then, remember: “He sees you when you’re sleeping, he knows when you’re awake, he knows if you’ve been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake!”